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A note from Piedmont Triad Living Piedmont Triad Living is giving community members space to share their perspectives on issues affecting our community. This piece was written by Quamekia “Que” Shavers and reflects her personal views on Winston-Salem’s Youth Protection Ordinance and the upcoming discussion about whether it should continue. Que is also preparing to run for Mayor of Winston-Salem in 2028. We believe that context is important for our readers to know. The opinions expressed in this guest piece belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Piedmont Triad Living. Winston-Salem is at a critical crossroads regarding how it treats its younger generation. The city's Public Safety Committee recently cast a split 2-2 vote on a key proposal, successfully securing enough votes to advance the issue to the full Winston-Salem City Council for a final decision. Committee Chair Antoinette Scippio and Vice Chair Regina Ford Hall voted in favor of moving the proposal forward to extend the temporary Youth Protection Ordinance for a full year, while Council Members Scott Andree-Bowen and Vivian V. Joiner voted no. This legislative push comes with intense urgency, as the city's current juvenile curfew is officially set to expire on October 12. The stage is now set for the full council’s upcoming meeting, which will feature a designated public hearing separate from the traditional public comment period to address the extension before it lapses. When the full council convenes, they must look past superficial rhetoric and demand real substance. During the committee sessions, Winston-Salem Police Chief William Penn Jr. failed to present a definitive, data-backed argument establishing exactly why a restrictive citywide curfew needs to remain on the books. The data presented was thin, lacking the robust empirical proof required to justify stripping an entire demographic of their basic freedom of movement. Furthermore, the critical differences between the structured school year and the unstructured summer season were entirely overlooked in the assessment. Worse still are the supposed safety nets offered as community solutions. The alternative engagement opportunities highlighted by the police department rely entirely on local community organizations and non-profits, rather than robust city infrastructure. These programs have been a total flop for this crisis. They completely miss the mark, failing to target the specific teenage age bracket covered by the ordinance. Even if a teenager wanted to participate, they couldn’t; these organizations do not operate during the late-night curfew hours, with most closing their doors by 5:00 PM or 7:30 PM. To offer daytime programming as a viable defense for a night-time curfew is a fundamental logical disconnect. Perhaps the most glaring failure of this process is that throughout all the debates, data collection, and committee votes, no one has actually asked the children for their perspective. By pushing this year-long extension forward, the city sends a damaging message to our youth: we are punishing the masses for the behavior of a small group. There are bad actors in every single sector of life, yet we do not apply collective punishment to adults. For instance, when there are bad police officers, you do not shut down the entire police department—you address the specific officers who are the bad actors. Yet, when it comes to our teenagers, the city chooses to penalize every young person rather than addressing the root causes of the individuals causing trouble. This approach exposes a systemic flaw in how our city leadership operates: Winston-Salem is leaning entirely on the "stick" while completely forgetting the "carrot." There is truly nothing left in this city designed to support, engage, and uplift our youth. We have criminalized their presence rather than investing in their future. When young people take it upon themselves to build community, gather organically, and carve out their own hangout opportunities, they are met with systemic hostility and constantly pushed out. A healthy city provides safe, dedicated, and accessible late-night spaces for teenagers to grow. Winston-Salem, however, chooses to clear the streets and issue citations. As the full council prepares for the final vote, city leaders must face the public and answer for this lopsided strategy. Punishing youth for having nowhere to go—while simultaneously refusing to fund the places they actually need—is not public safety. It is a failure of community imagination. As leaders of Winston-Salem, the city should want to support our youth. Leaders should want to invest in them. The city should not just be willing to enact an ordinance that will charge not only youth but also their parents; they should also be willing to give a real alternative. This is exactly why I will be standing in City Hall this upcoming Monday for the council meeting. The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM, but I will be arriving around 5:30 PM to sign in to speak, and I encourage everyone who cares about our community’s future to do the same. When I step up to the microphone, I will be advocating fiercely for both the carrot and the stick. If our leadership is so willing to provide complex mechanisms and rules to punish children who are bad actors, what are they prepared to build for the vast majority who are not? What do we actually have for them? Our community leadership must step up and show that they truly want to invest in the potential of our youth—not just control them.
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